Could the next iPod come from a two-man consumer electronics company headed by an Aussie?

John van den Nieuwenhuizen, born and raised in Sydney, is certainly having a crack. And the former lead designer of HP's TouchPad, who also spent several years designing phones for Motorola, has raised almost $1 million via Kickstarter to help him realise his vision.

The product goes into production next week and will be in the hands of the first customers in September.

With a former Motorola colleague, Vitor Santa Maria, van den Nieuwenhuizen has launched a new technology brand, Hidden.

Advertisement

Their very first product, the $189Hidden Radio portable Bluetooth speaker for mobile devices, is a hit before it even rolls off the factory floor. Production - completely outsourced - begins in Hong Kong next week with a first run of "thousands" of units.

More products are on the way, starting off with audio gear but expanding more broadly over the long term.

Hidden Radio's round shape projects sound at all angles.

Like Apple gear, Hidden's success has been in its simplicity. Hearing van den Nieuwenhuizen speak about his design philosophy is like listening to Apple head designer Sir Jonathan Ive.

"A lot of people think to make a product more competitive you have to add more stuff but I think it's what you take away that makes a product truly great," he says.

"Apple have proved that mantra it's not what they add it's what they take away and once you get rid of all the complexity the product is really simple."

But van den Nieuwenhuizen says what's known as the "Apple design philosophy" is actually heavily influenced by Japanese design and legendary Braun designer Dieter Rams.

The first lot of Hidden Radios to be manufactured will go to Kickstarter pledgers in September but everyone else can pre-order from the middle of next month.

There are no physical buttons or screens on the unit, and users control the volume by twisting the cap. Its round shape allows sound to be projected at all angles.

"Everything is so digital now and there's nothing you can literally interact with; I think there's something gratifying about physically controlling the volume."

In Sydney this week to give a talk at the University of New South Wales, where he graduated with a degree in industrial design, van den Nieuwenhuizen said Kickstarter funding had enabled an entirely new model for entrepreneurs who wanted to build hardware - which is typically extremely capital intensive.

He said investors "love software but not so much hardware", so he sat on the design for Hidden Radio for some time. The business would likely never have got off the ground had it not been for the 5358 Kickstarter users who pledged $938,000 - anywhere from $20 to $659 each - in return for early access to the product and other goodies.

He outsources virtually everything except the design of the product, and thanks to the internet can manage the business from anywhere in the world. Santa Maria lives in Milan, while van den Nieuwenhuizen is based in San Francisco.

"Now I'm in Sydney and i'm still working full-time on my startup, our web developer is in Montreal, our acoustic engineer is in Santa Cruz, our development team is in Hong Kong," he said.

"I think it's this new model of working that the internet promised but it's just starting to get up to speed now with the faster internet connections."

Van den Nieuwenhuizen, who grew up in Birrong near Bankstown, moved from Sydney to Milan around 2001 to be at the centre of the design world. He worked for Motorola in Milan and Chicago, before jumping ship to HP in August 2007.

The HP TouchPad was the biggest product van den Nieuwenhuizen has worked on. He was the lead designer out of hundreds on the TouchPad team.

The tablet computer went on sale in the US in July last year and in Australia on August 15 last year. But just days after the Australian launch the product was discontinued by the company, with the remaining stock sold off for $99 a piece in a fire sale.

"I usually don't say much about it because it's a shame how the CEO shut it down really quickly when it had potential," he said.

Although he designed the product, van den Nieuwenhuizen said that HP chose the wrong display - "it was a little bit thicker" - and launched it at the wrong time.

"It was unfortunate for them Apple came out right when they were ready to launch and they were much thinner. HP really had some brilliant stuff in the pipeline and if they stuck with it I think they could've done quite well."

The failure of the TouchPad was the spark that caused van den Nieuwenhuizen to leave HP and launch Hidden Radio, which he'd already been developing in the background.

Now, HP's decision to kill the product that van den Nieuwenhuizen poured his heart and soul into is fast becoming the best thing to happen to his career.

46 comments

But how does it sound? Any Bose-like magic in getting decent bass or volume?

Commenter

Harvey K-Tel

Date and time

July 25, 2012, 12:52PM

"Bose-like magic"? You're kidding. Bose is a marketing company. Read it's patents sometime. All their "magic" is based on prior art. The hopelessly inept US Patent system allows Bose to patent designs that were done by others many years ago. Bose is over-rated, over-priced and under-performing.

Commenter

Zaphod

Location

Sydney

Date and time

July 25, 2012, 1:15PM

Gee thanks for your input Zaphod, but rather than read patents I'll just listen to some music on my Bose equipment that actually does a great job of getting big sounds out of small spaces, and not really give a thought to who apparently utterly failed to commercialise the idea before them.

But the question at hand is this looks pretty, but it's a speaker - how does it sound?

Zaphod is 100% right though. Bose is marketing hifi stuff. I think its utter garbage price/performance (sonically,you can prove this as well!)

Go into a music producer/audiophile's house / studio and there will be no Bose, rest assured. Bose is for people who don't do their research into audio equipment but want to appear to have the best stuff.

sound is nothing... appearances are everything!

Commenter

Dave d7b

Location

Maroubra

Date and time

July 25, 2012, 2:15PM

Dave, we're talking portable speakers here - small, battery powered, plug an iPod or something in. Not something an audiophile would bother themselves with, not to mention a studio needing reference speakers. And really, you lose the argument when you say things like 'utter garbage'. Perhaps they're not sonically perfect, but one thing they do well is get a big, clean sound out of a small box.

But back to the point, I'm guessing no one, including the bloke who wrote this press release has heard this speaker. Strange thing to write an article on a speaker based purely on looks.

Commenter

Harvey K-Tel

Date and time

July 25, 2012, 2:45PM

I fail to see how this product is anything new. I have a speaker which comes in two variants (blue tooth or microusb wired) which does this for under $100. It has small controls on the unit, and is substantially smaller than the one depicted above. Best sound quality comes from placing it on glass tabletops as it uses a spring-like action to get the lower frequency output.

There are many variants out there ... simply search for "bluetooth speaker." Sorry, but this item is hardly revolutionary or evolutionary in any significant way and trying to compete in an area saturated with cheap asian imports.

Commenter

Bulldust

Location

Perth

Date and time

July 25, 2012, 2:45PM

Don't be taken in by the BOSE skywriting. "Sennheiser" is too long for this marketing trick, but the sound is far superior.

Commenter

Lady Diazepam

Location

Sydney

Date and time

July 25, 2012, 3:15PM

@Dave&Zaphod et al.... For the last 15 years I have been immensely enjoying the sound of my Bose 301 (x4) speakers and my Jamo woofer, powered by a 15 year old Denon amplifier. I hope they continue to satisfy my musical senses for another 15 years. It’s magic. Bose means quality.

Commenter

T

Location

PNG

Date and time

July 25, 2012, 3:22PM

Although Bose's price tags and value are questionable, I'm very happy with my Companion 3 speakers I've had for nearly five years. They sound fantastic and take up little room.

As for these speakers, the "next iPod" implies they are a central product that would replace an iPod or iPhone or other smartphone. Speakers are generally accessories to a central product, not the product itself.